Regarding the draft of the 14th sanctions package against Russia, Péter Szijjjárto, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said that it was against Hungary’s economic interests in its current form and would also endanger the security of Hungary’s energy supply.
After a meeting of his EU counterparts in Brussels, the foreign minister said the government was unwilling to vote for the sanctions package, adding that such measures would swipe a serious blow to Hungary’s agriculture and food industry and could compromise “the way Hungary pays for” its electricity, slow down the Paks upgrade project and violate Hungary’ sovereignty concerning the issuance of certain export permits. He insisted that the previous 13 sanctions packages had done “a lot more harm to Europe than to Russia”. On another subject, Minister Szijjártó said Hungary was sticking to its earlier position and would not agree to free up a further 6.5 billion euros from the European Peace Facility for arms deliveries to Ukraine. He said the foreign ministers of Germany, Lithuania, Ireland, Poland and other countries had “ganged up on him” at the meeting, but “this hasn’t shaken our position”. “No matter how loud Europe’s pro-war politicians shout … we won’t give in to pro-war pressure,” he said. “We insist that peace must be achieved and the senseless killing of people stopped; any escalation of the war must be prevented,” he said.